Of the 80 players listed on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ roster, only one has an “NT” under the “position” column, and that player on Thursday confirmed he’s not even playing nose tackle.

Chris Wormley, as expected, has been playing defensive end in the base defense during his first training camp with the Steelers since his March trade from the Baltimore Ravens. Though Wormley was acquired to help make up for the loss of former No. 1 nose tackle Javon Hargrave to free agency, the Steelers’ answer was to move veteran Tyson Alualu to the nose and backfill with Wormley as the replacement for Alualu.

“In the 3-4 scheme, our base package, I’m more of a ‘4-tech,’ playing (against) the (offensive) tackles,” Wormley said during a video conference call with media Thursday, echoing what defensive line coach Karl Dunbar said earlier during camp. “Then, when we go into our sub-packages, I’ll be inside on the guards and centers, depending strength and formation and all that stuff.”

Acquired in a swap of late-round 2021 draft picks, Wormley has experience playing across all line spots of a 3-4 scheme over his three seasons with Baltimore since being a 2017 third-round pick out of Michigan.

The Steelers are set with Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt as their top linemen, and with Alualu, second-year Isaiah Buggs and longtime nose tackle Dan McCullers also part of the positional group. It has been the hope of the Steelers that Wormley could slot in as the top reserve across the board.

But the unusual circumstances of the coronavirus-affected offseason combined with sparse participation in training camp because of a lower-body injury have hindered Wormley’s assimilation into the defense. Wormley has been a regular part of the daily injury report. According to the official pool report, he practiced fully Wednesday for the first time in recent weeks.

“There’s definitely been some challenges that have presented themselves,” Wormley said. “Obviously, at the beginning of the season when I got traded and there were no face-to-face meetings for almost five months. That compounded with the injury that I had at the beginning of camp has, I wouldn’t call it a setback but it’s given me some challenges, especially when it comes to the on-field reps and seeing where everyone fits and kind of getting that chemistry between the defense and myself. It’s been a challenge for sure.”

Wormley grew up in Toledo, Ohio, as a Steelers fan. When he was named all-state as a senior at Whitmer High School, new teammate Heyward was a rookie for the Steelers. Now, Wormley said he embraces looking to Heyward, Tuitt and Alualu to provide mentoring.

Despite the lack of in-person organized team activities and the lack of health at training camp, Wormley has made Steelers coaches take notice.

“He looks good.He looks the part,” Dunbar said. “He’s a 6-5 kind of kid, 290 pounds, and he’s moving well.”

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